


Meddling Kids

by buoyantsaturn



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, The Lake TM, aphrodite cabin relationship meddling, conchell if you squint, rated for...implications
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 08:06:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15335505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buoyantsaturn/pseuds/buoyantsaturn
Summary: “What kind of emergency?”“The relationship kind,” Lacy answered.“Who is it? Lou Ellen and Cecil?” Piper guessed, and when Mitchell tried to answer, she kept guessing. “Billie and Valentina? Or is it Connor and-- Um. Never mind, you tell me."Mitchell frowned. He didn’t remember any talk about Connor. “Wait, Connor and who?”“It’s Will and Nico,” Lacy interrupted.





	Meddling Kids

**Author's Note:**

> this is,,,, old,,,, so i apologize in advance for any bad characterizations i tried to fix it all up before posting but find out for yourself if its still good,,,, enjoy hopefully
> 
> im so sorry for the bad aphrodite cabin stereotypes i fixed them as much as i could without having to rewrite the entire fic please dont kill me for those

The Aphrodite Cabin had barely finished collecting their winnings from the last round of ship bets when Mitchell and Lacy caught one of the newly coupled pairs out behind the Apollo Cabin.

As soon as Mitchell realized what he was seeing, he slapped a hand over Lacy’s eyes. “Just because you two are behind a cabin doesn’t mean people can’t see you,” he called over to them. “Remember, there are children around.” Children that did not need to have the image of Will Solace pressing Nico di Angelo up against a wall burned into their brains every time they walked past the cabins.

As soon as Mitch started shouting, Nico had pushed Will away, crossing his arms and apparently trying his best to pretend that it hadn’t happened. Clearly, Nico still wasn’t all for the whole PDA thing - which really wasn’t a big surprise, considering his upbringing - but Will looked a little upset at being shoved away so quickly.

“I should be getting to the infirmary anyway,” Will’s voice carried over to Mitchell, and Will gave Nico one last  quick kiss before turning to flip Mitchell off and heading on his way.

Mitchell took his hand away from Lacy’s eyes. “Come on, apparently our work here is not done.”

 

The Aphrodite Cabin was the exact opposite of what most people expected. People were always surprised to see that, upon entering, everything  _ wasn’t _ spotless. And why would it be? They were teenagers at a summer camp, for the gods' sakes. There were at least three different articles of clothing on each bed, a little bit of mud had been tracked in by somebody’s boots, a few curling irons and hair driers sat in a tangled mess in one corner, and someone’s makeup bag had spilled under Mitchell’s bed. 

While the cabin usually had at least a few people inside (the buddy system had come into play at camp after the last war, for safety reasons), this time there was only Piper, laid back on her bed with one earbud in, absently braiding chunks of her hair. 

“Hey, Piper,” Mitchell greeted upon entering the cabin, and Piper removed her earbud. “We’ve got a little bit of an emergency.” 

Piper sat up quickly, narrowly avoiding hitting her head on the bunk above her. “What kind of emergency?”

“The relationship kind,” Lacy answered.

“Who is it? Lou Ellen and Cecil?” Piper guessed, and when Mitchell tried to answer, she kept guessing. “Billie and Valentina? Or is it Connor and-- Um. Never mind, you tell me."

Mitchell frowned. He didn’t remember any talk about Connor. “Wait, Connor and who?”

“It’s Will and Nico,” Lacy interrupted. “We think Nico still has a big problem with being open and public about their relationship, even though  _ everyone  _ knows about it.”

“Right, yeah,” Mitchell said, refocusing on the task at hand. “We think it’s time to break in The Lake again.”

“I’ve never seen The Lake work,” Piper argued. “Not since I’ve been here.”

“We haven’t used it in  _ so long _ ,” Lacy told her. “Not since--”

“The first war,” Mitchell supplied, “with Percy and Annabeth. Before that was Silena and Beckendorf.”

Piper paused to think. “We’ll need time to plan,” she finally said, voice determined. “We can get Jason in on it, at least, and I’m sure there’ll be others willing to help. We can discuss this further after dinner. In the meantime, we need to round everybody up in the arena for training.”

One thing that most people  _ did  _ expect was that most Aphrodite children weren’t the best with weapons. Of course, nobody wanted to break a nail, break a sweat, or break the cabin streak for uninjured days in the arena. However, ever since Piper had calmed down after the war she’d been itching for some proper fights, and she kept her cabin active during training.

Everyone broke a sweat. Drew broke a nail. And, of course, Valentina got injured. Nothing too serious, just enough that she needed to be escorted to the infirmary, and Mitchell was volunteered for escorting duty (just like how he was volunteered for everything else).

It didn’t take long to get to the infirmary, and while Val still had two arms, the one looked pretty bad and it sounded like she was in a lot of pain from the knife wound across her bicep.

Mitchell called into the infirmary: “Hey, where’s Will?”

Kayla came around the corner while looking at a clipboard in her hands. “You guys know Will isn’t the only person here that can heal things, right?” When she looked up, her eyes widened at Valentina’s arm. “Never mind, you want Will. Val, I’ll help you out for now. Mitch, he’s either in the Apollo Cabin or the Hades Cabin.” Mitchell turned back toward the door, ready to run (read: fast-walk) to find Will, when Kayla cried, “Wait!  _ Knock. _  Do not enter unannounced. Whichever cabin they’re in,  _ knock first." _

“Right, got it. Gross.” And he ran (really slowly. He fast-walked).

The Apollo Cabin, being closer, was the one he checked first. He knocked on the door, but when there was no answer and no...  _ suspicious sounds _ heard from inside, Mitchell made his way to the Hades Cabin.

He knocked on the door, already sure that at least one of the two of them was in there. Before anyone could answer, he started, “Okay, so sorry, really sorry, like, you have no idea. But, um, I’m under no illusions as to what you’re doing in there, so I’m going to keep shouting through the door until somebody comes out here. I’m  _ really  _ hoping Will’s in there, because otherwise this would be a whole lot of awkward for nothing, but there’s an emergency at the infirmary and you’re needed.”

A (disgustingly) breathless reply came back, “Tell Kayla to do it.”

Mitch felt like he needed to shower just from being that close to whatever may or may not have been going on in there. “She’s the one that told me to come find you.”

There was a loud groan from inside the cabin, and Mitchell prayed to his mother that it was an angry groan, and if it was anything  _ other _ than an angry groan, he prayed to Hades that he be killed on the spot.

Then the cabin door was opening and slamming shut, and Will was pulling on a shirt as he walked, and Mitchell felt both a little swoon-y and a little puke-y at the same time.

It wasn’t until they’d made it into the doors of the infirmary that Mitchell pointed out, “I think your shirt’s inside out,” because at least now he could run and know that Will was basically trapped by his siblings. 

“Whatever,” Will grumbled, and he went to heal Val’s arm.

 

* * *

 

“We have a Code Purple,” Mitch announced when he returned to the cabin, where everyone else had already gone.

“You have a hot date and nothing to wear?” Lacy asked, obviously confused by their code system.

“Distraught young love!” Mitch corrected. “Will has been grumpier than I have ever seen him before, and grumpy is  _ not _ his look. We need to break out The Lake!”

There were a couple of murmurs from his siblings, but Piper spoke over them, “We need to wait a few days.”

“Why?” Mitchell asked.

“The stars aren’t in position,” Drew mocked in a whiny, terrible impression of Piper’s voice.

“I did  _ not _ say that the stars weren’t in position,” Piper snapped at Drew. “Look, Mitchell, I’ve spent some time with Nico. I think he just needs a few days to work it out on his own. He’ll come around, I’m sure of it, but he needs to do it on his own time.”

Mitchell let that sink in for a moment. “Three days.” Piper hesitated, but gave a distinct nod.

 

Things had plateaued during the three days. No one saw any more of WillAndNico, and no one saw any less of WillAndNico. Nico was seen by himself teaching sword technique classes, and Will was seen by himself at the infirmary. They were seen together at campfires, and sometimes during their spare time between activities. Though, while they were together, there was also a distinct pocket of air between them; there was always space separating the two boys. Not even a hand hold!

Nothing had changed. If anything, things might have even gotten  _worse._

It was time for The Lake.

The plan went as follows: wait until Nico and Will were together in an open area; get the necessary people to get them to The Lake; let The Lake do its job. Simple. Especially when you had someone as strong as Jason.

As the Aphrodite Cabin had been observing the couple for the last three days, they recognized of a bit of a schedule at this point. Nico and Will spent about an hour together after lunch on most days, so this was the time to set up the plan.

The entire Aphrodite Cabin (plus Jason) was milling around the central green, trying to appear casual and failing to do so, when Will and Nico arrived. The two were walking close enough that their hands were probably brushing, but still their fingers did not link. Thankfully, they were walking in the direction of The Lake, which happened to make the job a whole lot easier.

The children of Aphrodite waited until the two boys had gotten closer to The Lake, slowly creeping behind them as they walked, though Mitchell had a strong feeling that only about three of them were actually being sneaky at all (one of them being Jason).

When the time came that the two boys were approaching the dock, Piper gave the signal, and everyone charged. Jason and about three of Mitchell’s siblings (though it was mostly Jason) picked Will up off the ground, as Mitchell, Piper, and a few others did the same with Nico. They all ran the few steps to the end of the dock before throwing the couple into The Lake.

The cabin started cheering until a lot of splashing came from below them. Nico was struggling to keep himself afloat while trying to scream his head off at the same time, and was making quite a bit of noise. Will, on the other hand, glided over to him swiftly, wrapped an arm around his waist from behind to keep his head above the water, and said to him, “Calm down, this is almost like a tradition.”

“But it’s  _ March!" _  Nico screamed. “Most lakes are still frozen outside of camp, I’m  _ literally freezing." _

Will pressed a kiss to his cheek, and a few Aphrodite kids exchanged high-fives. “C’mon, let’s get you warmed up, then.”

He pulled Nico off to the side of The Lake so that they could climb ashore. The Aphrodite kids were almost starting to lose interest, simply congratulating each other on a job well done.

Will, however, brought their attention right back to him when he wrapped an arm around a shivering Nico’s waist and said, “So, since you guys are all such  _ perfect _ matchmakers, we’ll be expecting absolutely  _ no _ interruptions for the rest of the day, seeing as how I’ll be needing plenty of time to warm my boyfriend up. Got that?” He winked and shot at the mob of teens with a finger gun, before the two of them went back in the direction of the cabins.

Mitchell dropped to his knees dramatically on the dock, arms around his stomach and pretending to gag at the sight. “Oh, gods, I’m gonna be sick.”

A naiad oh-so-helpfully splashed him full in the face with lake water, effectively smearing his makeup and messing up his hair. He knew he should’ve gone with the waterproof stuff today. 

“Thanks,” he grumbled in the direction of the water, and Piper pulled him to his feet.

“Come on, Mitchell, we’ve got other matches to make.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!!  
> check out my blog @buoyantsaturn on tumblr and i also help run the @solangeloweek blog which is happening this august so get ready for it!!! ill be posting fics every day during solangeloweek hopefully ((i better right since im running it lol)) so there will be lots more content from me and everybody else in about a month im super excited!!


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